


Darkness Falls

by LRT



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters: Black & White | Pokemon Black and White Versions
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Captivity, Episode Related, F/M, Family Secrets, Fate & Destiny, Forbidden Love, Game Spoilers, Human Experimentation, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Jealousy, Kidnapping, Mind Control, Minor Violence, Rivalry, Sexual Content, Surprise Ending, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-02-18
Updated: 2015-02-18
Packaged: 2018-03-13 16:28:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3388466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LRT/pseuds/LRT
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Team Plasma's quest for power and control leads to the surprising discovery that the true power they seek is right under their noses.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Waging War

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the two unaired episodes "Rocket-dan vs. Plasma-dan" that are no longer considered canon.

The first time he saw her something went through him like a bolt of lightning. It was a feeling he'd never had before - not that he was very accustomed to having a lot of those in the first place. It was as though he had found a true kindred spirit in a complete stranger, someone he had never spoken to or seen before and could barely make eye contact with as it was. She was too preoccupied with Team Plasma's grandstanding: "give up your Pokemon!" He could see she had a Pokemon with her, outside of its Pokeball, and it seemed to be in a heated discussion with the person crouched down next to her behind the park bench in the center of town. He hadn't seen that particular Pokemon in the region before but knew from the arduous studies his father put him through that it was a Meowth, usually found in the region of Kanto. Had they come all this way?

Leaning against a nearby building, tugging his hat down over his eyes and looking down, he laughed quietly to himself - another rare occurrence in his life, it seemed. Here he had found someone that seemed to share - or at the very least understand - the inner struggle of darkness versus the light inside the human body and they were going to destroy everything. It was a bitter irony that it would inevitably come down to a Pokemon battle of darkness versus light, destroying most - if not all - the region; who would care about who had a Pokemon in their Pokeball then? It was something he wasn't supposed to understand and acted as though he didn't; but his father taught him well - too well. The gym leaders wouldn't stand for it. The Elite Four wouldn't stand for it. His father was severely deluded if he thought they could call Zekrom without someone attempting to call its other half - and then all hell would break loose.

He looked up through hooded eyes where the girl had once been but he knew before he saw it that she had gone with her friends, the electric energy he'd been feeling now gone; the light replaced with the darkness. N couldn't help but wonder who she was and what would bring her to Unova. Perhaps the rumors of Zekrom sightings. Maybe nothing related to Team Plasma's plans at all. Unfortunately, he found himself unable to get her out of his head as the team packed up their flags, turned into formation and marched off after a speech that he'd grown up hearing and was sure he could recite in his sleep. Sometimes he wondered if he did. Regardless of her true intent, the girl was now part of something bigger than she could imagine: she had stolen the king of Team Plasma's heart.

 

* * *

 

Standing outside a cave where they had found shelter for the night, Jessie waited for Meowth to link up the computer to the boss. She let a sudden wind whip through her hair and give her a chill, arms wrapping around her barely covered body to try to warm herself. Looking up at the sky, twilight began to fade into night and another chill rattled up her spine, even though the trees and tall grass around her were still.

Sensing him behind her, she spoke before he could, keeping her voice and demeanor much the same as it had been ever since they had arrived in Unova, "I hate it here."

James frowned, taking another step toward her and draping his jacket over her shoulders which she begrudgingly pulled around herself as acceptance. "What? Why?"

Jessie turned to face him, her own face dark as the fading twilight gave way to the darkness inside the cave. "Don't you feel it?"

He shook his head. "Am I supposed to feel something?"

She made a face and turned back around, looking up at the early stars in the sky. "It's so dark here. I feel like something's constantly pressing on my chest, making it hard to breathe."

"Maybe you're allergic to something."

"I'm allergic to whatever the fuck that legendary Pokemon is and what it's doing to this place," she retorted.

James stepped out of the cave and looked up at the sky with her. "You think it's doing something? Like how that one Pokemon made all of those people in that town have nightmares?"

Jessie shrugged. "Something like that, I guess."

"We could leave."

She shot him a look. "And give up this chance the boss has given us to actually _not_ fail at something?"

"It's not worth it if it's upsetting you, Jess..."

"Of course it's worth it. I'll live. It's just...strange."

"Maybe we should tell the boss about it."

"You do and I'll have Meowth shave your head with his claws in the middle of the night while you're sleeping," she said, turning around and thrusting his jacket back into his arms in one fluid movement, walking back into the cave.

James sighed heavily, looking up at the sky again and tilting his head to the side, squinting his eyes. "All I see is darkness."

 

* * *

 

It was rare that anyone in Team Rocket showed mercy - even for one of their own; so when she boarded Pierce's helicopter with James and Meowth, met with Dr. Zager and heard the...well, less-than-startling news that the Meteonite was "not from this world", Jessie was shocked when Pierce pulled her aside and told her to find somewhere comfortable on the plane and rest.

Pierce was low on a list of people in the world that Jessie thought gave a damn about her and the fact that he never could quite look her in the eye unnerved her. She tried to chalk it up to his higher rank and experience; what a grand undertaking this was for Team Rocket and that he was surely under a lot of pressure. Hadn't they succeeded, though? The Meteonite was in their possession. What did he have to be so twitchy about now?

And how awful did she look that he took notice and thought she needed beauty rest?

"I don't understand," she said, warily watching as Pierce darted his eyes back to James and Meowth, noting their enthrallment in the dissection of the Meteonite. "Did I do something wrong, sir?"

He grabbed her by the wrist and used the distraction to slip away, letting go of her once he felt she had her own bearings and - more importantly - she wasn't about to be dragged around anymore. Ignoring her question and subsequent worry, he guided her to the small cargo bay and began to rub his chin, trying to think of a way to make it comfortable. The rest would surely be short but that was all the more reason to make sure it wasn't simply against cold metal. "There must be something here to make a suitable bed."

"Why do I need a bed?" Jessie asked, following him about the cargo bay, becoming panicked now that he knew something that she didn't.

"To rest. You need to rest for what's ahead," he replied, pulling out an old tarp and shaking it out, making the two of them cough and Jessie sneeze.

"I don't understand. Are you doing this for James, too?"

He shook his head, folding the tarp and attempting to produce a makeshift sleeping bag out of it. "You look like hell. I understand why." For the first time since she'd met him, he made eye contact with her, kneeling down on the ground to spread the tarp out. "You wanted to look good and you did. You kids worked your asses off." Pierce stood, dusting off his pants and darting his gaze from her. "You get much sleep since you got here?"

Jessie crossed her arms over her chest - her immediate defense mechanism when she couldn't insult someone or simply storm away. "Thank you for saying that, sir. We _have_ been working hard, all three of us. We're a team. We're a damn good team. We were once and we will be again. That's our goal."

Pierce crossed his arms as well, nodding slightly. "Good. Good attitude to have. And the sleep?"

"James and Meowth can sleep through the end of the world."

"I didn't ask about them."

"What does it matter?"

"I told you already - you look like hell and you need to be _on_ , Jessie. We aren't the only ones that wanted that Meteonite and our competition will be coming at us - soon. Fast and furious. We'll need all hands on deck and everyone sharp and at the ready."

"What makes you think -"

"Do you understand the pecking order, here? I'm here to help you but you're very much aware that I'm a higher ranked agent, is that not true?"

Jessie swallowed hard, looking away from him. "Yes, sir."

"I'll review anyway: it goes Giovanni. Me. You. I'm giving you an order and if the boss were here and saw you like this, he would give the exact same one."

"So you're ordering me to sleep?"

Pierce shrugged, gesturing to the tarp on the floor and brushing past her on his way out, to join the others in inspecting the Meteonite. "There are worse orders to receive, aren't there?"

 

* * *

 

Her sleep was deep but not restful - the way it had been since they'd landed in Unova. She slept so hard and so heavily that it only made her more exhausted. If she had dreams, she didn't remember them and she always woke on her own with a jump, heart pounding in her chest and hair stuck to her neck in a sweat, looking around her as though she would find something out of the ordinary. She never did, of course; it was always James and Meowth and their stuff and the occasional dripping of water if they had taken shelter in a cave.

The nap on the helicopter was no different. Jessie awoke with a start, alarmed at first at her surroundings and then slowly remembering where she was and what was happening. She heard a commotion outside the helicopter - which now had landed - and frowned, throwing the tarp off of herself and putting her jacket, gloves, then boots on. Running a hand through her hair quickly, she stomped her way out of the cargo bay and ran right into James, knocking them both to the floor.

"Will you watch it?" she spat, glaring at him.

"I was coming to get you! You missed it," James said, a glimmer of excitement in his eye as he stood up and extended his hand to her.

"Missed what?" she asked, ignoring his offer and standing on her own.

"This guy in his own helicopter and his Liepard...that Liepard was crazy. The boss is here and he's ready for war. I don't know who that guy was but it really made the boss mad. You should see all the agents out here, Jess."

Jessie frowned. "So I guess Pierce was right, then."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. Are we doing this or not?"

Nodding, a grin on his face, he took Jessie's hand and guided her out of the helicopter and right into the gathering of Rockets outside. The helicopter had landed seemingly in the middle of nowhere, desert terrain all around them and she wondered how far away they'd even gotten from where they picked up the Meteonite.

"It's like a Rocket army..." she murmured.

"I told you, it's war."

Jessie looked up at him, the grip on his hand tightening and making him look back at her abruptly. "What the hell is that thing?"

James shook his head helplessly, having no better answers than she did but giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Maybe we shouldn't have done this."

"What? But Jess -"

"What if something happens? Like this place isn't enough of a fucking nightmare! It'll be on our heads, James. _We_ did this."

James frowned at her, opening his mouth but being interrupted by Giovanni, stepping in front of his troops on a small platform to roaring applause and whistles.

"You have all been chosen to come here today because you have unbridled strength! Determination! And a fire that burns for the glory of Team Rocket that cannot be quelled!" The applause broke out once again, Jessie and James exchanging wary looks. "Today is the day to let that fire burn brighter than ever before! Let it consume you if you must, for the glory of Team Rocket will _not_ be denied!"

Amongst more applause, Jessie leaned over to James. "I don't like this. I'm all for the glory of Team Rocket but -"

"- But he's telling us to die for this cause." James paused, shifting against the sand beneath him. "What _is_ that Meteonite?"

Suddenly a battle cry was heard from across the sand, over a dune. The Rockets gave a cry back, throwing their Pokeballs into the air and calling out their various Pokemon as Giovanni himself slipped away into the helicopter, no one but Jessie and James noticing as it took flight once again.

From over the dune a flag gradually came into sight, followed by what looked like knights in armor, glistening in moonlight as they marched in unison, led by a short, older man in a robe who marched alongside the flag-bearer. As they came closer, Jessie and James squinted to see who they were dealing with and came to the same realization at the same time, looking at each other with wide eyes.

"Isn't that -"

"Team Plasma," Jessie finished.

James gulped. "They, um. They know we're not...having an _actual_ medieval battle, right? It's a Pokemon battle! Isn't it?"

"These freaks are freakier than Team Galactic and with even worse fashion sense."

"Yeah, it's really dated."

"Who knows what the hell they think?"

"Or what they want with the Meteonite..."

Team Plasma stopped abruptly a few feet in front of the Rockets and their Pokemon, the man in the robe stepping out in front of his group. "How barbaric. Using Pokemon to fight this way, as though they were weapons. Do you think that we enjoy stooping to your level? Do you think that we enjoy these games? All we want is the freedom of Pokemon!"

"Freedom!" the grunts behind him shouted.

"There's no way he'll get his weird message across to Team Rocket," Jessie said.

"Yeah, everyone's been taught to use Pokemon as tools," James agreed.

As the man in the robe continued, Meowth came running up, out of breath. "Jessie...James..." he panted, "we got...trouble..."

"No shit," she retorted, gesturing to the increasingly tense battlefield.

Meowth shook his head. "Not dat! Twerps!"

"What?" Jessie and James said in unison.

"Dey're comin'! Dey want dat Meteonite, too!"

Glancing back at the two teams, Jessie sighed and turned her attention back to Meowth. "Where are they?"

"Up ova dat hill."

"Jessie, we can't -"

"James, I don't know about you but I'd much rather battle a twerp than _them_ ," she said, pointing to the Plasmas. "How about you?"

"Well...I - I guess we would still be helping Team Rocket..."

"Let's go, then!"

The trio took one final look as the battle began and then Meowth led the way to the ever-interfering twerps, unaware that perched on a small mesa not far away, the same man whose Liepard started the war watched them, cloaked and petting his Pokemon gently. He didn't even notice as it purred softly, his eyes locked on the magenta-haired girl who jumped over and climbed rocks as though it were nothing.

"What takes you away from the battle..." he murmured to himself, speech slow but distinct. "Surely you are not one that runs from a fight." He continued to watch her in silence until she and her friends were over the hill and out of sight. He then turned his attention to his Liepard. "I believe we will have to find out more. I don't care very much for guessing games."


	2. Aftermath

The Rocket trio trudged through the sand, their weakened states making it feel as if they were trying to walk through molasses. Meowth was the first one to give up and let himself fall on his rear on the sandy dune they were trying to navigate. Jessie looked back and scowled at him. The wind was picking up, blowing sand all around in brown waves. Night had since fully set in, the only illumination coming from the moon and stars above.

In their haste to get to the twerps and stop them from stealing the Meteonite, the team had gotten itself good and lost. They didn't even have a victory that they could hang their hats on as the twerps' Pokemon made them blast off for the first time in months. None of them could say that they missed it.

Squinting through the sand, Jessie crossed her arms and yelled, "Get up! We have to get the hell out of this desert!"

James rubbed his arms for warmth, the unrelenting heat of the day giving way to conditions more suited for a Snover. "Yeah, come on, Meowth! If you don't freeze to death out here, you'll be buried alive in the sand."

"Most likely by me," Jessie muttered, James snickering in response.

Winded, Meowth stood in front of his human companions. He looked up at them with what he hoped was his best wide-eyed kitten face. "Can't one of yas put me on yer shoulders or sometin'?"

Jessie and James exchanged a quick look before turning their attention back to their beleaguered pal. "Why should we have to suffer carrying your fat ass when we can barely walk ourselves!" she said.

"Hey!" Meowth pointed a paw at her and narrowed his eyes. "I ain't fat. It's water weight!"

"I thought you hated water," James began, Jessie joining him for the continuation, "especially wet water."

His response was abruptly halted at the sound of an engine revving in the distance. "Who would be out here at dis time of night?" Sighing, he added, "'Cept for us dummies."

James frowned and grabbed Jessie's wrist, tugging at her. "Nobody you'd want to meet, I'm sure. Come on, we can hide behind this -"

Jessie pulled her arm away from him and shot him a dark look. "Whoever it is has a mode of transportation. That's more than I can say for us."

"What if it's Team Plasma?" James countered.

"Then they can stab us in the gut with their swords and we won't have to worry about finding our way anymore, will we?"

Headlights appeared over the dune, casting light on the front of what looked like a military-issued Jeep. James grabbed for Jessie again but missed, nearly falling face first into the sand. She ran up toward the car and waved her hands frantically, jumping up and down.

James frowned again. What if it was the fuzz? What if it really _was_ Team Plasma? What if it was Pierce, wanting to know why they abandoned their fellow Rockets? There wasn't a single outcome that he could think of that turned out well for them.

Joining Jessie and Meowth, his eyes narrowed when the Jeep pulled up next to them, its driver leaning over the passenger's side seat. A glimmer of recollection buzzed through James's brain. Where had he seen this guy before?

"It looks like you three could use some help," the driver said, eyes locked on Jessie and barely acknowledging the other two's existence.

Jessie bounced up and down happily, leaning her head in the window. "You have no. idea." She went to open the door when James successfully grabbed her wrist, holding it tightly. She tried to pull it away from him and growled when he refused to let go. "Let go of me or I swear, I will take your entire arm with me."

The driver ducked his head, pulling a baseball cap down to cover his eyes. She was even more beautiful up close. His entire body tingled with the same electricity it had the first day he saw her - magnified because of the close proximity. If she touched him, he was certain that the energy was so strong that she would feel the same prickle on her skin that he did.

Looking at his hands as they gripped the wheel, he wondered if this was a very good idea. He wouldn't be able to simply let her go with her friends - not after so many weeks of tracking her every move and now, here she was, sliding into his passenger seat with her partner still gripping her wrist.

The driver leaned over and grabbed James's wrist, startling him. Most of his face still shrouded in shadow from his hat, he said in a cool tone, "I believe she asked that you let her go."

James narrowed his eyes at the stranger - familiar though he seemed - and dropped Jessie's wrist. She glared at him and rubbed it with her other hand, making herself comfortable in the front seat of the Jeep. "You two can stay here and die for all I care but _I'm_ leaving."

He opened his mouth to object but was cut off by his Pokemon partner who bounded into the back seat. Eyes narrowed at him now as well, Meowth shrugged. "I ain't about to look a gift Ponyta in da mouth!"

Sighing heavily, James crawled into the back seat as well, slumping down and crossing his arms against his chest. His eyes remained narrowed at their suspicious driver, lips sticking out in what he thought was a menacing scowl but, in actuality, looked like a spoiled child pouting about something they wanted and couldn't have.

As the Jeep pulled off, James watched their driver through the rearview mirror up front. Light green hair was flattened against his eyes from the hat he wore, making it almost impossible to read him. Who went to such great lengths to hide themselves if they truly were a good Samaritan, driving around the desert in the middle of the night? The only time he could ever actually tell where he was looking - and likely what he was thinking - was when he would turn his head ever-so-slightly to the side and sneak a glance at Jessie. This made James even more uncomfortable and put-off by the man.

"So, what exactly were you doing out here at such an hour?" James asked, trying to hide the suspicion in his voice.

"You are so annoying," Jessie said, turning to their driver and adding, "You don't have to tell us anything. It's not like _we're_ going to tell you why _we_ were out here." Quickly turning her head, she shot James a look that only made him slump further down in his seat. "Isn't that right?"

He did nothing in return but lower his eyes and let his hair fall in his face. He hadn't put much stock in Jessie's assertion that something was very off in the Unova region but after the day they'd had and now this strange person showing up out of nowhere, James was reconsidering his stance on the subject.

After driving in silence for a while, the Jeep slowed as a familiar sight came into view. Meowth peered out the window and saw the situation before anyone else, his eyes widening. "Dat...dat's where Team Rocket was battlin' Team Plasma..."

Jessie and James turned to look, only seeing black figures in the darkness through the whipping sand. "How can you even tell?" Jessie asked as the driver glanced quickly at the scene out of the corner of his eye.

Meowth gulped and slowly sat back down in his seat, tail flicking in uneasiness. "I'm a cat, 'member? I got real good eyesight in da dark..." he trailed off, hanging his head low. "Wish I didn't right now."

She frowned at him and turned her attention back to the window as they came closer and closer, the sand disappearing from their view to reveal the battleground like a stage curtain starting a show.

Both humans now seeing what their Pokemon friend had been talking about, Jessie reached over, nearly placing her hand against the driver's chest and said, "Stop! Stop the car!"

His breath caught in his throat and he looked down at the gloved hand that was so close to brushing against his shirt. He wanted to know - he _had_ to know - if the sparks that flew were mutual and what that meant if they were. As he began to lean into her hand, she pulled it away and put it to her mouth, gasping. Disappointed, he sighed and followed her gaze to the mess in front of them.

Bodies in black uniforms with red Rs and shining silver chainmail were scattered across what they could see in the dark. Pokemon laid around them, some with swords and spears sticking out of them and others with arrows. The Rockets met a similar fate, it seemed, while the Plasmas showed more signs of death by electrical, fire, psychic, and dark attacks along with brutal normal ones like slash.

The driver ducked his head, anger building inside. The humans that were killed meant nothing to him; they had the free will to choose to listen to their bosses or not. It was the Pokemon that were sacrificed for nothing and deserved a fate much happier than what they received. He felt a tug in his chest and immediately looked at the girl by his side that was holding her stomach and trembling, a tear sliding down her cheek.

"What...what happened..." James murmured, taking one final look at the death before him and turning his head away. "How could this have happened?"

"Stupidity."

The three Rockets all looked at once at their driver, his head tilted downward, hair and hat obscuring the view of his face. His voice quiet but stern, he continued, "There are many good causes to give your life up for - this wasn't one of them. And the Pokemon should have never been involved in the first place."

"How do you know what their cause was?" James asked accusingly.

Putting the Jeep back in drive, he replied, "It's a nagging suspicion that I have."

Jessie shook her head, trying to wipe her cheeks without anyone noticing how upset she had gotten. "Well, I can certainly say that our cause wasn't worth all of this."

James turned his attention to Jessie and leaned forward, placing his hand on her shoulder gently. "I can't remember the last time this happened...has there - have we ever lost so many people at once before...?"

The driver darted his eyes to the side and gripped the wheel tighter at the sight of the man in the backseat so easily capable of touching the girl that paralyzed him with emotion. "I see that you have the same symbol on your clothes that those poor, deluded souls out there had on theirs."

Meowth opened his mouth to attempt to explain the "coincidence" away but Jessie spoke before he had a chance. "We aren't like them." James and Meowth both blinked at her and then looked at each other. Jessie jerked her shoulder away from her partner's grip.

"I wasn't suggesting that you were," the driver responded calmly. "I was making an observation." He paused. "You have my sympathies if anyone close to you was taken."

"The only people that might be considered 'close' to us are people that I wouldn't shed a tear for if they croaked."

James furrowed his brow, saying softly, "Jessie, c'mon...don't say things like that...you know you don't mean it."

"Don't tell me what I mean," she retorted. "If I find out that Cassidy was in that group of doomed Rockets, I'll throw a fucking party."

Sitting back once again, James looked down at his lap. Jessie could often be coarse but she never actively wished anything truly bad on people - especially when it looked likely to come to pass. _Was_ this place having such an adverse affect on her? Was she getting so tired of always fighting the pressure she felt on her chest that she was letting it suffocate her, giving in to whatever unseen forces may be at work? He could count on one hand the number of times Jessie had ever given in to anything that was trying to mess with her; in fact, it seemed to make her even more angry and determined not to let it get the best of her. What was she experiencing that made it so different this time?

They continued their drive to the main road in silence, the wind hurtling sand against the vehicle the only known noise. The driver only ended the quiet briefly to address Meowth suddenly, "Don't be worried. You may have special abilities but you're still a Pokemon - still more than worthy of being saved from the harsh, unforgiving world around you."

Meowth simply blinked in response, trying to hide the wariness he suddenly felt toward their driver at his ability to seemingly read his mind. "...Tanks?" he finally said.

"Yeah, great," Jessie said flatly, resting her head against the window, "but what about the rest of us? The world isn't exactly a picnic for us, either."

"You'll be protected," he said, too quickly for James's liking. "You'll weather this storm and be able to live in a world that should have existed for both Pokemon and humans alike a long time ago." A small smile came across his lips as he finished quietly, "I like to believe that, at some point in our existence, it did."

She looked at him, now unsure herself who it was that was slowing their ride to a stop near the gate to Nimbasa City. The wind and sand had stopped so abruptly that no one seemed able to pinpoint when it happened. The things he said sounded so strange - crazy, even; but the way he said them made Jessie feel oddly at ease. She couldn't recall a recent time when she had felt anything close to at ease - a fact that made her wonder about their rescuer all the more.

James and Meowth quickly got out of the backseat, having become effectively weirded out by their strange new "friend" long before Jessie even thought twice about it. She stayed in the Jeep for a few moments longer than her friends, trying to think of something to say. Why she felt the intense need to say _anything_ to the guy in the first place was beyond her. Opting finally to simply tell him "thank you", she opened the door and swung her legs out the side only to feel a hand gently touch her arm.

The skin underneath her glove and jacket seemed to burn, an unseen fire that traveled up her arm and stopped in her chest, causing her to gasp softly and put her hand to her heart. She followed the man's hand as it withdrew itself from hers and found herself actually looking into the eyes that had been hidden from view the whole time.

He had the same shocked, confused look that she was sure had to be plastered all over her face as well, making her wonder if it wasn't just some kind of static electricity...not that she'd ever experienced a static shock like _that_ before.

His heart pounded both in joy and fear at the reaction his touch had provoked. It wasn't his imagination; he wasn't just a silly young man in love for the first time. There was something real and genuine there between them...but why? That's where the fear came into play. Finding himself after becoming lost in the unsure but curious blue eyes of the girl that would likely rule his dreams, he said quietly to her, "N."

She nodded slightly in understanding, replying in the same soft tone - one that was very unlike any she had ever heard herself use before, "Jessie."

He nodded as well, a deep ache inside of him growing as the urge to connect with her again shot through his mind. He lifted his hand, about to caress her cheek when she was pulled away from him by her partner.

The blue-haired man sneered a "thank you" at him, pulling her to his side. Looking to her, he could feel the hair on the back of his neck stand up at the longing in her eyes - a look that he had to be reciprocating whether intentional or not.

Giving her another tug, James pulled Jessie toward the gate to Nimbasa City while she kept her eyes on the strange man named N that watched her be taken away until she disappeared into the gate itself. Face suddenly becoming dark, he put the Jeep into drive once again and turned it around, starting back for the massacre in the desert. He would give the Pokemon a proper burial and memorial, at least; and while he did, he would think of a way to get Jessie alone and talk to her without the infuriating interruptions of her friend.

Squinting through the sandy twists of air that appeared once again, he tightened his grip on the steering wheel and murmured to himself, "Yes. He's going to be a problem."


	3. Savior

It was as if their experience in the desert had never happened. James and Meowth were chatting excitedly about taking a "well-deserved break", as they put it, relaxing and taking in all the entertainment Nimbasa City had to offer. Jessie was less than thrilled about it for several reasons, the main one being that they hadn't checked in with headquarters yet and, given what had happened, that might have been a good idea at this point. Her companions begged for just _one_ night of Rocket-less fun where the entire Unova region wasn't seemingly on their shoulders. She couldn't really deny them that - their attraction to shiny, colorful objects aside; if things hadn't shifted so dramatically for her, she probably would've joined them. Unfortunately, for a place that never really changed from a barren wasteland, the desert had certainly brought forth dramatic change in her life - change that made her start to question everything around her.

It wasn't even the horrifying sight in the desert that truly plagued her thoughts or even the assumption likely made by their superiors that they had died in the fighting, too; it was that strange man that rescued them from a sandy fate that kept her mind elsewhere to a point where she didn't even notice when Meowth stole her cotton candy for himself. Where James and Meowth were disturbed by his demeanor, Jessie found herself oddly drawn to it. When he touched her hand and their eyes met, it was like looking at an old friend that knew everything about her and understood, supporting her wordlessly.

She desperately tried to rationalize it, blaming some kind of psychic attack gone awry, her own exhaustion, and her partners for no real reason other than she was used to blaming them for everything. If they hadn't been there with her, Jessie probably would've thought it was a mirage and left it at that. Stranger things _had_ happened.

James had picked up on her strange behavior - of course he did, he was James - and tried to get her to talk about it. She refused, only saying that she wouldn't be visiting the Desert Resort any time soon, no matter what they were assigned to do. Since the scene had been a bloody battlefield, he took her vague response at face value - he wasn't going to be rushing to go back there, either.

With one bite taken out of her candy apple, she used "just eating" as an excuse to skip the roller-coaster ride with the boys. She was truly trying not to be a downer but how was she supposed to put on such a big act with the friends she never had to be anyone but herself with? Besides, there was something creepy about the fact that it was in the old Nimbasa gym...like you were supposed to scream and laugh and have fun in a place where so many trainers had their dreams trampled by a half-dressed _model_ of all things; apparently she was failing miserably at not being a downer.

Instead, she sat on a bench outside and picked some of the colorful sprinkles off her apple, remembering a time when she would've shaved her head for even a morsel of food. Stress and life-threatening situations aside, being a bit more successful and respected in the organization _did_ have its good points.

Idly, she looked up at the famous ferris wheel before her; all those stupid, lovey-dovey couples and their Pokemon talking and laughing and embracing and kissing...she hoped that was the extent of what went on in those cars. The wheel itself was beautiful, rising high into the night sky, getting lost in the dark at the top with the exception of blinking lights that could've been mistaken for stars. Anyone probably _could_ get away with a little more than kissing if they were at the top for long enough. Whoever fixed it so that it wasn't a complete death trap anymore obviously enjoyed giving people seizures, the patterns of light changing so quickly, the colors so drastically, that she couldn't look at it for long without feeling the beginnings of a headache coming on. Nimbasa's landmark probably _did_ have to match the head-splitting brightness of the rest of the city.

Returning to her arduous sprinkle task, she held the apple up to her face, deciding to be artistic and scrape them off in the shape of an "R" - what else was she going to do, right? Tongue sticking out of her mouth slightly in concentration, an oddly familiar figure appeared behind the apple, blurry in her peripheral vision. Looking past her masterpiece to put the person in focus, her eyes widened, the surprise causing her to drop her apple on the ground. Looking down at it, she grumbled, "fucking hell" before returning her attention to the man that was leaning against the entrance to the ferris wheel.

It simply had to be pure coincidence. No one willingly went through the desert unless their ultimate destination was Nimbasa City, so he was probably on his way all along. Was it strange? Sure. Lots of other things were strange, too. If she took pause and declared shenanigans on all of them, she would be pointing her finger at oddities for the rest of her life and _still_ not cover it all. What, was he here looking for her or something?

She scowled suddenly, the thought popping into her head that he was there waiting for some bimbo to make out with on the ferris wheel. Why did this thus-far-imaginary girl make her want to stomp on her imaginary face so badly? What did she care what this guy did? It's not like she was horribly and inexplicably jealous or anything.

He met her gaze - or so she assumed since his hat was hiding his face and therefore, his true intentions as well - making her freeze up. Maybe if she stayed perfectly still he would think she'd been paralyzed by a stun spore and had no choice but to look at him; though, if she had to be paralyzed, looking at him would certainly make it all a little more bearable.

Hands in his pockets, he started across the sidewalk in her direction. Jessie's panic was beaten down by her excitement and curiosity. This kind of thing didn't happen every day to her; it didn't happen every day to _most_ people, did it? She had no idea what "it" was, exactly but still held tight to her belief that what she was experiencing now was a rarity in not only her life, but life in general.

As he crossed the grass to meet her, she stood up like she was a robot, being controlled by some outside force. Was he drawn to her the same way? Was he just being nice and taking the time to see how she was doing after their ordeal? Was he some creepy stalker that was about to abduct her, Officer Jenny finding her mutilated bones in his basement -

"You dropped your apple."

Jessie blinked and shook her head out of its daze, looking down at the apple next to her feet. "Yeah. Clumsy me."

"Jessie, wasn't it?"

She nodded and swallowed hard, her knees becoming wobbly at the way he said her name. She was truly losing her damn mind in this place. If this wasn't proof of that, what else did anyone need?

He offered her his hand and she took it immediately, not knowing or caring at the moment where he was about to lead her off to. "Would you like to go for a ride?"

Her inward complaining about the ferris wheel was now a distant memory as she nodded again and let him guide her to the monstrosity. What was she doing? What was she _thinking_? She had no idea who this guy really was and here she was, knowingly putting herself in a possibly dangerous position, all because he made her feel like the pressure against her chest wasn't so bad and she could breathe again.

Obviously it wasn't so much him as it was the fact that he was handsome and mysterious, his face almost always obscured by his hat, making it impossible to read him. It should've been unsettling; instead, she found it terribly intriguing and jumped into the deep end without knowing how to swim.

Her suspicion grew as the ticket-taker let them ride for free, calling her new companion "sir" about as many times in one sentence as their team often did with the boss. It was much more annoying when this kiss-ass did it.

Once they were secured inside the car, the ride started up again with what sounded like the ferris wheel equivalent of a guttural moan. She grasped the sides of the car and stiffened up, mumbling to herself, "I thought they fixed this stupid thing."

"They did," came the reply from the man across from her as he looked out across the city, "but you have to think about how big this ride is. So much weight to carry on beams that don't look strong enough to withstand it." He turned his gaze to her, striking blue eyes shining through the shadow cast across his face. "Perhaps it doesn't _want_ that responsibility but had no choice in the matter." Adjusting his hat, he looked out into the bright lights of Nimbasa City once again. "But, it was either accept it and become the giant of cold steel that you see before you or...remain in the scrap heap, not even an ounce of its talent or abilities ever known to the outside world." He looked down slightly, voice lowering, "Wouldn't you cry out in pain and anger, too?"

Jessie blinked at him and turned her head to look out across the city as well, desperately trying not to look down. That was how she often felt: like a steel beam that people piled weight on top of despite how rusty or damaged she might have been. Everything always seemed to be on her shoulders - all her own fault, of course, as she self-declared that she was the leader of the group. At first, James and Meowth fought against it - Meowth in particular - but as time dragged on everyone decided to save their energy for something that actually mattered. She threw her partners under the bus enough to avoid any _real_ responsibility for anything, making her the leader in name and fantasy only. Or so she thought.

"It seems like I may have struck a chord," the man said quietly, head still lowered. "If I brought something up that's upsetting, I'm sorry."

She shook her head a little and shrugged, shifting awkwardly against the seat only to immediately freeze at the unstable swinging of the car that it caused. "Not upsetting. Just life."

His hand reached forward and took hers gently, the unseen but powerful energy between them rushing through the two like a raging river of fire. The ferris wheel stopped abruptly (at least it felt that way to Jessie) at almost the exact second his hand touched hers. Only taking her eyes off him for a moment to glance out, she realized that they were at the top, dangling dangerously above the ground. Everything seemed to be hanging on by a thread, not the least of which being what little sanity Team Rocket had left her with.

"You don't have to be scared. Nothing's going to happen to us."

"Why do you sound so sure about that?"

Head tilting up, he adjusted his hat once again, the dark shadow gone from his face as she got her first _real_ look at the guy. Pale skin was a bare canvas for the lights and shapes of the ferris wheel and Nimbasa City below, the eyes that had been her only real glimpse until now shining brighter than the neon colors that danced across his face. She was taken aback by him, never having seen a man that could be described as... _beautiful_ before.

As he opened his mouth to answer, she interrupted with another more pressing question, "Why do you hide your face? You're..." Jessie felt her face grow hot and hoped that he would think it was merely the lights playing off of it the way they were his. She swallowed hard and made herself pull her hand away from his, the energy between them substantially decreased, making her heart and body ache for that feeling again as if they had been apart for centuries. "You're not bad-looking," she stated, crossing her arms and trying to pry her eyes away from him only to be drawn right back into his.

"I thought we were talking about you," he replied, pulling his hand back like he'd just been burned by a stove.

"We weren't _talking_ about anything."

They stayed quiet for a few minutes, listening to the sounds of laughs and screams below, old carnival music faintly hitting their ears as it was played through the speakers that hung from a few street lights scattered around the park.

Jessie was slowly becoming convinced that this guy was some sort of Lothario that always brought stupid girls here to charm them with his depth and face and eyes and mystery. Why else would they be stuck at the top so long if it wasn't something he did frequently? The ticket guy called him " _sir_ ", for crying out loud. If anyone knew what sort of hanky-panky went on in this thing, it would be him; he was probably the founder of the mile high club. She hated that she could now be added to the no doubt lengthy list of bimbos that fell for his act.

"Would you feel better if I told you something about me?"

Shifting against the seat again, she answered, "Like what?"

There was a distinct look on his face of indecision, his inner struggle painted across his face and accented by the glow of Nimbasa City. While he had been lied to almost his entire life and didn't want to do the same to anyone else - least of all her - divulging his secrets might put her in unnecessary danger. It was the same problem that plagued him the past few months: light or dark? White or black? Heart or head? How he hated that every decision thus far had favored the darker side.

Maybe that was why she was there - to help him make the _right_ decisions and not just ones that were browbeaten into him, fear and guilt's power gaining more and more strength until his heart and head were silenced completely. She made his heart race again and hurt his head in the best possible way, confounded by everything about her. She was a human that made him feel something other than anger, hatred, or betrayal. Only two other people in his life could say that.

"If I tell you...you have to give me your word that you'll listen and try to give me the benefit of the doubt."

She raised an eyebrow, the longing look she had been giving now replaced with one of wariness. "Even if I gave you my word, my word isn't worth anything. So just talk."

He took a deep breath and nodded, resting back against the seat as the ferris wheel started up again. "I suppose at first...I should make it brief and get to the point." His eyes glanced down at the floor of the car as he fought the urge to pull down his hat again, avoiding whatever her reaction may be. "It was no coincidence that I found you and your friends wandering around the Resort. I was already there..." Sighing softly, he closed his eyes, tilting his head back against the glass that enclosed the Pokeball-themed car. "I was there with Team Plasma."

Jessie's eyes widened and she dropped her hands to grab at the edge of her seat, trying press back against it and get herself as far away from him as the cramped quarters would allow. "So...what? You were assigned to fuck with Team Rocket or something? Is that why all this crazy shit has been happening with us?!"

Shaking his head, he opened his eyes and looked at her sadly, his heart breaking at the accusation. "I've never been truly assigned anything. I decide to show up if I feel there's a need."

She snorted, looking him over incredulously. "What are you, the boss or something?"

He hung his head now, unable to keep from tugging his hat down along with it. "Yes." There was a time in his life when he never would've imagined feeling the shame that he did at that admission - that time was now over. "And no," he added, glancing to his side as their car went past the entry platform to the ferris wheel. "To put things in their simplest terms, I was lied to. Deceived by people that I thought I could trust and who had the same goals that I did." Hunching over in his seat, he shook his head again. "I was only a figurehead...not even _that_ , I suspect this point. They don't care about anything that I've ever said. All they want is power and to control everything from people to Pokemon." He took his hat off and ran his hand back through his mess of hair that was barely tamed into a ponytail. "This wasn't what I wanted. I thought that I could attempt to sabotage things and rescue Pokemon the way I had intended...I thought that was what I wanted. Now...I don't know what I want."

Grabbing his wrist before he could put his hat back on, she swallowed hard, fighting not to let her body tremble at the resumed contact between them. "You mean you didn't have anything to do with what happened out in the desert?"

Feeling exposed both without his hat and at telling her what he had, he kept his head ducked between hunched shoulders, his breath catching in his throat when she grabbed him. "I knew it was happening. I didn't realize to what extent. I was going to put a stop to all of it before it even began but...but then I saw you." Looking up at her through messy strands of light green, he finished, "Again."

"Again? What do you mean _again_?"

He shook his head and gestured with his free hand to the platform, the ferris wheel slowing as it came closer. "Not now."

Jessie jerked her head back to look and quickly turned it back to him, shaking him by the wrist. "'Not now' my ass! You tell me what the _fuck_ you think you're doing!"

The ferris wheel continued to creak and groan as it slowed, the noises becoming louder and louder as they approached their destination. He purposely made his voice quiet, hoping that maybe the clamor would keep her from hearing. "I think you're meant to save me from my life."

The car came to a stop at the platform, the ticket-taker opening the door and peering in at them. With an unsure look, he inquired, "Sir...?"

She dropped her hand from his and watched as he raced to put his hat back on and crawled out. Sticking his hands in his pockets, he started off, not looking back at her or even making an attempt to explain himself.

The ticket-taker helped her out of the car and she nodded to him absentmindedly, walking back out into the increasingly chilly night air. The man was nowhere to be seen. The ferris wheel had let out an especially loud squeak but not before she heard him say that she was supposed to save him. _She_ was supposed to save _him._

After the brutality between their respective organizations in the Desert Resort, he thought that _she_ would not only believe his story but _save him_? She wasn't Juliet and he couldn't be her Romeo - not that things turned out that great for them, anyway. If he was trying to escape his crappy life by creating some epic love story in his mind and making her play along, she would have to pull the curtain on that act and do it fast.

Sitting back on the bench she'd abandoned, her apple still on the ground, she resolved to knock this guy back to planet Earth before things got weirder than they already were. Scoffing to herself at the idea of being anyone's savior, she asked out loud to herself, "How am I supposed to save someone else when I can't even save myself?"


	4. Known Unknowns

It had been weeks since the fight in the desert and her strange admirer's arrival in her life. As the days went on, Jessie found herself looking over her shoulder more frequently and realized that it wasn't out of fear but hope. Hope that he would be there; hope that maybe he had answers for the questions piling up in her mind after their last encounter; hope that he was right in some weird way and she _was_ there to do something that mattered as opposed to hiding behind bushes and stalking a kid and his rodent; hope that she wasn't going crazy. It was a feeling that eluded Jessie most of the time, so when day after day he never showed, her hopefulness disappeared more and more, making her feel a bit more at home once again in her dark misery.

The depth of the emptiness she felt grew with each passing day. She was horrible to her teammates (even by her standards) and even stopped eating save for a morsel here or there to get James to shut the hell up and stop giving her that worried look he seemed to always have plastered his face these days. The physical and mental toll it was unexpectedly taking on her made for little progress in terms of their various pursuits in the Unova region, Jessie growing tired and impatient quicker than usual resulting in setting up camp for the night - usually in late-afternoon.

She was angry at so many things and, despite what most people probably thought, she hated having that feeling control every aspect of her life. Sleeping was her only escape and more often than not a real, solid rest still felt like an impossibility to her. She was angry at herself for being fooled; she was angry at her teammates for caring about her and making her feel bad; she was _supremely_ angry at N for saying the things he did and disappearing - what kind of person _does_ that? Certainly no one she could or should give half a damn about.

Every night she felt James's eyes on her, penetrating through her body like a dagger and slowly twisting inside her. Given what a royal jackass he'd been to N before, Jessie had decided to keep all the unbelievable revelations to herself - something she knew hurt James to his core. She knew that his intentions were good and true (almost too much so for anyone involved in Team Rocket) but for once this was something she really had to handle on her own...somehow. She was the only person that could shine light on the darkness - this was _her_ problem and no one else's. Why didn't anyone seem to understand that and let her make her own mistakes, soaring into the light or stumbling into darkness?

The latter seemed much more likely and, at the moment, much more tempting as she rose from their makeshift camp when the moon was high in the sky and stomped off in her uniform sans gloves and jacket, taking great pains to make sure her heavy boots didn't make too much noise and wake her sleeping comrades. Arms wrapped around herself, she walked along what she assumed was a path, finding herself almost frantically heading deeper into the forest where the moon's light wasn't so prominent and the pitch black night around her reigned supreme.

Why was she so much more at ease when she was miserable? Were their plans always flawless and _she_ messed them up somehow, subconsciously needing the failure to keep her going? What kind of fucked up person _was_ she? That was a question that had plagued her for years, yet she still wasn't any closer to an answer.

Grumbling swear words that would've easily made James blush, Jessie stopped next to a tree and placed her arm against the trunk to balance herself. Fatigue, dizziness, and headaches were now par for the course and she was certain that a quick rest would revitalize her the way it usually did. Of course, James and Meowth were there to wait on her hand and foot when she needed to sit down - she wasn't exactly left to her own devices in the middle of the night, now lost somewhere deep in an unfamiliar forest. She could be incredibly stupid at times, getting herself into avoidable trouble by not looking before leaping.

She hunched over and shut her eyes, trying to get the dizziness to subside, at least. It barely registered when the ground came in contact with her cheek and side, the pain only splitting through her brain for a few seconds before consciousness left her.

 

* * *

 

Groaning as she strained to open her eyes, Jessie left them half-closed and squinted around her new and still unfamiliar surroundings. The sun was shining brightly through a window next to the bed she found herself in, illuminating the wood floor in one paintbrush-stroke of warmth and light stretching across the room. There was little else other than the window and her bed, a small wooden nightstand and rickety old rocking chair the only other furniture as far she could tell.

She slowly got up from the bed and winced, putting a hand to her head and blinking in surprise, finding it had been bandaged. Painful or not, she scowled and stood, heading over to the window and fighting through the searing pain in her eyes and head at the brightness outside to see if she could discern where she was.

It may have been dark out but she was fairly certain that the forest she had found herself in the night before...presumably the night before?...looked nothing like what was outside her window. Everything was greener than she'd ever seen before, the flowers blooming and blowing slightly in the breeze. There was a small pond to the side in the front yard, a vague grassy pathway starting behind it and leading to the house. She was slightly mesmerized by the water - the way it shined and how crystal clear it was...it almost didn't seem real.

Voices could be heard below her and she tried to decipher who it could possibly be. The twerps, maybe? That was all she needed - to be forced to make nice with those brats because they _saved_ her or whatever delusion it was they had about the situation. Sure enough, she heard a familiar male voice and a less familiar female one in what sounded like an argument. Putting that question on the back-burner for a moment, she left her boots in the room and made her way out and into the hallway. Where the hell did those twerps always find these kinds of places? She, James, and Meowth were usually lucky to find a run-down old cabin in the woods occasionally - let alone what was looking to be some kind of rustic old mansion.

As she quietly made her way down the hall, she would glance into the other rooms along the way, most occupying Pokemon that seemed to shake with fear over her very existence. A horrifying thought came to mind: what if this was some kind of Team Rocket secret base and these were all stolen Pokemon? What if she was about to walk into Butch and Cassidy and have to listen to them gloat about how the boss sent them to Unova, too because _her_ group of idiots couldn't get a damn thing accomplished? The male voice _was_ familiar but, as she got closer to the noise, she became fairly certain that the female wasn't Cassidy; _that_ was a voice that was unmistakable.

She peered around a corner and found herself looking at what she assumed was the kitchen, a long wooden table and chairs placed next to another window with everything else practically shoved into a corner. An Audino sat in one of the chairs, looking between two girls anxiously as one watered some potted plants on the window sill and the other stood in front of the male voice, effectively blocking him from her view. Well, if they didn't want someone eavesdropping on them, maybe they shouldn't have been so loud, right?

"- dangerous," one of the girls finished, adjusting her green shawl.

"Anthea is right," the other said, walking to the small sink and filling the watering can again, "we have to get her back where she came from before she wakes up and sees this."

Jessie frowned, unable to stop the nagging feeling that her ears should be burning right about now. Why did they even help her if they were just going to dump her again? Who did these bimbos think they were?

"I trust her," came the male voice, causing Jessie's eyes to widen and the hair on her arms to stand up. "You need to trust her, too."

The two girls exchanged glances with each other, the one with the shawl finally moving out of the way to reveal N - hat-less and jacket-less for once, his hair a tangled, wild mess of green as vibrant as the grass and trees outside, hanging down his back and over his shoulders, some in his eyes.

Her heart pounded, echoing in her ears and in her suddenly less aching head. The desperate need to go to him almost overtaking her, she shook her head slightly and moved away from the doorway, pressing her back against the wall, trying to make her heart beat normally again. What was she thinking? He _left her_ high and dry for weeks and now he shows up again to...what? Save her? Add her to his obvious harem? Try to sweep her off her feet again only to leave her in the dust soon after? He didn't deserve the rise in her blood pressure the sight and sound of him caused; he didn't deserve _her_. And wasn't _she_ the one that was supposed to be doing the saving, anyway?

Calming down a bit, she scooted closer to the doorway and listened in, opting not to torture herself by looking at how stupidly gorgeous the jerk was.

"- don't understand," he said, his usual blasé tone now filled with urgency. "She's...I believe she's special."

"Like us?" one of the girls asked.

"No..." he trailed off, swallowing hard and shaking his head, "she makes me feel things that I thought were lost forever. The happiness and safety we felt before Ghetsis betrayed us, I have that again when I simply just _look_ at her."

"You said yourself that she's a member of a group that's just as bad as Ghetsis."

"And that the two groups engaged in a violent, deadly battle."

"Surely Ghetsis is aware of her group and has people spying on them. What makes you think that she hasn't led Team Plasma to our door?"

"I don't know," he quietly conceded. "I don't know why we met. I don't know why it was _now_ that we met. I don't know why there's such a powerful connection between us...but all of these things have come to pass and we need to understand why."

Biting her lip, Jessie leaned her head in the doorway again, silently cursing at the leap her heart made into her throat at the sight of him again.

The other girl with a long, sloppy blonde braid in her hair softened the way she was looking at him. "You care about her very much, don't you?"

Letting his hair fall into his face as he reached over and pet the Audino on its head, he nodded slightly. "I want to believe everything has happened because of destiny...something far beyond our control or understanding." He looked up, darting glances between the two girls. "How do I let that go, never knowing if it was true?"

"If it _is_ destiny, you will always come back to each other," the blonde offered with a small smile.

The girl in the shawl simply sighed and turned, startling both herself and Jessie at the sight of her spying. She narrowed her eyes as Jessie stepped into the doorway, laughing nervously. "I suppose it was the Fates telling you to eavesdrop on a private conversation as well?"

"Anthea," N scolded, taking a few steps toward the door and then stopping to simply just look at her.

Jessie couldn't help but blush, tucking some of her hair behind her ear, only noticing for the first time that it was down and sprawling across her body the same way N's was. "I'm sorry," she said quickly, taking a step back out of the doorway. "A girl gets curious when she wakes up not knowing where she is."

"It's fine. Don't worry about it," he replied, eyes still locked on her. Almost to himself, he murmured, "I like your hair down."

Blushing more, screaming at herself for letting him get back in her head again, she said, "Yours, too."

N blinked and tried to look to his side to see the state of his hair, suddenly blushing himself and starting to pull it back almost immediately. "I was only letting it down for -"

"Hey, I said I _liked it_ ," she interrupted, prompting him to drop his hands to his sides and let his hair fall once again. She smiled and nodded to him. "Better."

"Since our brother has apparently lost all of his manners..." the girl with the shawl began, "I suppose we'll have to introduce _ourselves_." Taking a step toward her, she said, "I'm Anthea."

The girl with the braid nodded to her in acknowledgement. "I'm Concordia."

" _Ooh_ ," she said, hitting herself in the forehead with her palm and then immediately regretting it, making a pained face at the resulting throb. "You guys are _related_!"

Anthea and Concordia looked between each other again, Anthea raising an eyebrow before turning her attention back to Jessie. "If N hasn't mentioned us to you, then perhaps you aren't quite as close as you think."

N frowned and walked next to his sister, placing a hand on her arm. "Anthea, please." He looked back at Concordia before returning his gaze to his pink-haired sister. "You both know how I feel about you...just as I know how you feel about me." Turning his head to look at Jessie, he swallowed hard and shut his eyes, voice softening, "But this has nothing to do with you. I have trusted you both implicitly...all I ask is for the same trust in _me_."

"We _do_ trust you, N," Anthea argued, placing her hands on his shoulders and looking at him worriedly. "I trust that everything you're feeling is real." She looked to Jessie, continuing, "That, however, doesn't mean that _she_ is trustworthy."

Opening his mouth to protest, he was interrupted before he could start by Jessie stating simply, "I'm not." All three looked at her questioningly before she continued, "I've always been a liar and a cheat. I'm a thief with little to _no_ regard for those around me, particularly my partner, James, who has shown me more kindness and understanding than I could ever deserve in a hundred lifetimes." Swallowing hard, she looked at N, heart pounding once again, muffling her own voice in her ears. "I thought that he was the only one that could ever get me...until suddenly he wasn't." Taking a step forward to the group, she said softly, "I don't know why this is happening, either...honestly, I was hoping that you could answer that one for me but I guess we're both shit outta luck." Anthea and Concordia crossed their arms and looked at each other while N simply smiled. "I just know that...whenever N's around, I feel...I feel like running away, out of the darkness that I'm so used to and right to him - for better or worse."

N made his way toward her, stopping in front of her and looking into her eyes. Tentatively, he raised a hand and placed it on her cheek, both of them gasping at the electricity their mere contact caused. "Jessie..." he murmured as they both took cues from the other and leaned in. Their lips barely met but that was all it took for any bit of doubt between them to disappear. Even Anthea and Concordia stood and watched in awe, the energy around them impossible to ignore.

Her body trembling from something that she was all but positive wasn't hunger-related, she said his name in a breathy voice against his lips before asking, "Can I stay? I want to stay."

N simply nodded, fingers tangling in her hair as he slowly deepened their kiss, prompting Jessie gasp and grab his shirt, happy to reciprocate.

Concordia gently took her sister's hand and tugged lightly, gesturing with her head to the doorway. Anthea frowned and looked worriedly to N and Jessie only to have Concordia whisper in her ear, "He's not ours anymore, Anthea."

She turned her head away and pulled back from her sister, fighting back hot tears as she brushed her way past them and out of the kitchen. N forced himself to break the kiss, eliciting a groan of displeasure from the girl before him, looking with concern to Concordia.

She smiled at him slightly and left the two, letting her intuition lead her to her crying sister who sat surrounded by various Pokemon in the lush grass just outside the house. She joined her and wrapped her arms around her, softly kissing her forehead.

"We never should have let him leave," Anthea cried, burying her face in her sister's shoulder. "I never thought for a single moment that he would ever develop feelings for another human being."

Concordia held her and ran her fingers through her hair lovingly. "Doesn't that make this even more incredible, then?" Pulling away slightly, she placed her hands on Anthea's cheeks and looked into her weepy eyes with sad ones of her own. "You felt what I did, Anthea."

Returning her sister's gaze, she nodded, letting the tears run down her cheeks and her sister's hands. "His heart has been stained." She closed her eyes tightly and pursed her lips together. "I'm not ready to stop protecting him."

"We don't have to. We'll always be there to protect him...but, as he argued when he wanted to go out into the world, we must let him go and discover things for himself."

Opening her eyes, she tilted her head to the side and met Concordia's gaze once again. "He's going to fall in love with her, isn't he?"

Concordia couldn't help but smile, using her thumb to brush away her sister's tears. "I believe he already has."

 

* * *

 

"It was very quick, sir, but we believe the energy spike to have been N," Aldith reported to a large screen with the true mastermind of Team Plasma plastered across it.

"Then why are you standing here telling me about this when you _should_ be going after him?" the man asked coldly, making Aldith immediately turn and glare at the man that stood next to her.

"It was simply just a blimp on the screen, Ghetsis, sir," Colress said coolly, flipping his section of blue hair back behind his ear. "There was no possible way to get coordinates from something so minuscule."

"I thought you were a brilliant man, Colress," Ghetsis retorted, his one good eye narrowing. "Surely someone like you has the capability to work around such _minuscule_ things."

"Of course, sir," he replied, his tone still calm and cool - almost arrogant. "I assure you, the next time such an energy signal appears, we will pinpoint it and have N in our grasp within minutes."

As Aldith rolled her eyes, Ghetsis said, "I do hope so. You know how important this is."

"Yes, sir," both Aldith and Colress replied in unison, shooting glares at each other after.

Letting out an annoyed grunt, Ghetsis disappeared from their screen as he hung up, resting back against a large chair facing a screen even bigger than the one given to Aldith and Colress. He flexed his fingers, resting the palm of his hand on his custom cane, looking into the darkness of the screen before him. Closing his eyes, he commanded, "Show yourselves."

Out of thin air three masked figures appeared, immediately getting down on one knee and lowering their heads.

Ghetsis kept his gaze on the nothingness as he instructed the three, "You will find him. You will remain in the shadows, watching his every move. When you have something useful, you will return." Glancing down at the three shadows, he finished, "Is this understood?"

The three stood up straight, hands at their sides, and bowed to him before disappearing into the darkness as quickly as they had come.

Using his cane to help stand, he made his way to the door - the light from the outside the only illumination besides the big screen in the viewing room. He paused for a moment, grip on the cane tightening. "I didn't put all this work into darkness only to have it ruined by the light."


	5. Sparks Fly

Time seemed to have no meaning in the private hideaway N's sisters had made. There was night and there was day; but they didn't feel the same in the quiet oasis that Jessie found herself more than happy to call "home." She figured that she had to have been gone a few weeks at this point, despite feeling as if she had just arrived, waking up to each new day with an energy and vitality she'd never had before. The thought crossed her mind to ask Anthea and Concordia how the whole thing worked but she immediately squashed it - they probably wouldn't tell her, anyway.

Instead, she helped N care for the injured and frightened Pokemon, surprising him with her knowledge on the subject. She simply shrugged it off, deciding that reliving the humiliation of nursing school was something better left for another time - like never, for instance. She was surprised, herself, at the undeserving trust the Pokemon eventually gave her. Sometimes being the bad guy made her forget that she could and _had_ actually bonded with Pokemon in the past; but when all you hear are people telling you how awful you are and one of your main ways of transport is a Pokemon attacking you, it was easier to believe the things right in front of her face than it was look deep inside herself and realize how terribly she missed Wobbuffet popping out of its ball, putting just the right odd touch on the end of their motto.

Another thing she had grown to miss were her teammates. For better or worse (usually worse) they had been together almost non-stop for half their lives - certainly _most_ of Meowth's. As content as she was with N, their connection growing deeper each and every day, it didn't replace how nice it was to have best friends. Yes, they aggravated her beyond what her tiny bit of sanity could handle but they also cared about her and listened to her, knew her better than anyone else - maybe even N, though that seemed unlikely given their unspoken bond. N had his sisters to take care of him and love him, protect him from the evil things in the outside world that had driven him into hiding in the first place. She had N, of course, but found herself missing some platonic aspect of her life; something that wasn't as intense as her relationship with N - something like what she had with James.

Jessie kept all those feelings to herself, usually scoffing at the very thought of James and Meowth being irreplaceable and so important to her way of life. The fact of the matter simply was that James's good heart and naivety combined with Meowth's...well, combined with Meowth being Meowth...gave her a balance in her life that she never thought twice about until it was gone. She found herself more afraid of admitting how she felt and finding them, only to have them reject her for abandoning them for someone that was a total stranger to her than she was admitting how she felt to N, unsure of what his response would be. James and Meowth deserved some calm in their lives, too - so was it really that big of a deal to want them with her, to start out a new (albeit strange) life together? Maybe James would even fall as love with one of N's sisters - maybe even both, she wasn't going to judge. Maybe Meowth would finally find himself top cat among the Pokemon, doing something that actually mattered as opposed to whatever the hell it was they were doing now. Selfish as she was in their most desperate times, Jessie was well-aware that her friends had been in their fair share of dark places, too. What kind of friend would she be if she _didn't_ want to drag them out of the bottomless pit that was Team Rocket and back into the daylight again?

She thought all the "maybe"s in her head were kept well underwraps until one day she came across her Team Rocket uniform during a desperate search for something to put on that didn't have adorable baby Deerling puke all over it. Concordia and Anthea had begrudgingly lent her a few of their old, worn dresses to wear and it was while she was changing into a fresh one that the black tank top and white skirt caught her eye. Reaching forward into the small closet in what was now her room, she took what parts of her uniform she had arrived in off the rack and held them out in front of her, a small, wistful smile appearing on her lips. Glancing down, she noticed her old boots and wondered if she would even be able to walk in them anymore, she was so used to running around barefoot or in comfy flats that Concordia had given her. She knelt down in front of them, her uniform clutched to her chest. How could something that had been so _vital_ to her very identity now seem like a lifetime ago when it had hardly been a month, at best? Was she just crazy? Did Team Rocket not mean as much to her as she thought it did? Were her feelings for N so all-encompassing that things that _did_ matter to her now seemed insignificant? Maybe she was finally just growing up.

"Jessie?"

Jumping at the sound of N's voice behind her, she scrambled up to her feet again. "I'm here. I just -" she stopped mid-explanation, looking down at the uniform in her hands before saying softly, "...got distracted."

His eyes followed hers, a tug immediately pulling at his heart inside his chest. It wasn't jealousy or fear of losing her, their long talks that lasted into the early mornings giving him more than enough insight into the mysterious girl he'd fallen for so unexpectedly to trust that he had nothing to worry about in that department. He realized that his heart was synced with hers, experiencing the same twinge of pain and emptiness that she was in that very moment.

As he stepped toward her, she turned to put the uniform back in the closet, saying quickly, "It just feels like I haven't seen that thing in forever, you know?"

N reached out and grabbed her wrist gently, stopping her from putting the clothes back. "You miss it."

She shook her head and swallowed hard, eyes darting another glance at the boots on the closet floor. "No. Not Team Rocket."

He tilted his head, brow furrowing in confusion. Pulling her away from the closet, facing him, he asked, "Then what? Tell me."

Biting the inside of her lip, she lowered her head, letting her long magenta mane flow down her shoulders and hang in her face, concealing emotions she didn't realize had been laying dormant. "James and Meowth. I miss _them_."

Staying quiet for a few moments, moving his hand to take hers, he gave it a quick squeeze. "I'm sorry that I took you away from them."

Jessie frowned, squeezing his hand back in reassurance. "Don't be. I'm happy here. I'm happy here with _you_." Dropping her hand from his, she went to her bed and sat down, placing the old clothes in her lap. "I want them to be happy, too."

N sat down next to her, lifting his hand and brushing her hair out of her face and behind her ear. He couldn't help but smile at the immediate shudder he got from her in response. "I'm not sure they would be. Not here."

Looking over at him, she frowned more. "What do you mean?"

Resting his hand on her cheek, a sharp pang in his stomach when she shut her eyes and let her head fall to the side against his hand, he said quietly, "Seeing the two of us together would make your friends miserable." He brushed his thumb against her cheek, pushing the urge to lie or change the subject down deep inside of him. "Especially James."

Opening her eyes, Jessie was met with an understanding sadness in his striking blue ones. "Why do you say that?"

He shook his head, smiling a little, looking down at the small space of bed between them. "It doesn't matter." Looking up at her again, the look of intense worry in her eyes made him add, "All that matters is you, Jessie." Her eyes only softening a little bit, he moved his hand from her face to the back of her head, fingers getting tangled in her hair. "I'll bring them here. If that's what you need, that's what you'll receive."

Her heart pounding much the same way it did when they had their encounter on the Nimbasa City ferris wheel, Jessie abruptly leaned in and kissed him, one arm wrapping around his neck as her eyes fell shut and goosebumps rose on her skin in a wave of excitement.

N smiled against her lips, his hand moving to the back of her neck, fingers dancing against her skin and getting another shudder from her. Forcing himself to pull back after a few moments, his smile broadened, fingers running down her back. "I should let you get dressed."

She ran her hand from the back of his neck down to his chest, the sound of her own heartbeat in her head almost deafening and certainly drowning out any other feelings she may have had in the moment. Fingers playing with the zipper of his jacket, her gaze flickered up at him, watching his reaction as she began to unzip it.

Confused at first, it wasn't until she reached the end of his jacket and purposely rubbed her hand against his crotch that he realized what she was getting at. He stared back at her, at a complete loss for what to say or do.

It wasn't surprising that, considering his upbringing and teen years, his experience with women began and ended with his sisters. It was this lack of knowledge that had made him wonder if the way he felt about Jessie was simply just the way love was; but seeing her reactions to everything made him certain that this was something far beyond that. His intuition was what guided him through their physical encounters, feeling the way her body moved in response to his touch. What she was proposing now, however, was much different.

Given their inexplicable connection and the sparks that flew between them every time they brushed against each other, N was actually concerned what sleeping together may result in. There was something unnatural about the electricity and fire that swelled up inside them at the sight of the other - something extraordinary but frightening and strange nonetheless. For all he knew on both subjects at hand, they could spontaneously combust.

Noticing her face falling, uncertainty and embarrassment creeping in, he took her hand in his and swallowed hard. "Jessie...I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why?" she asked quietly.

He took a deep breath and placed her hand on the bed, standing up and removing his hat to run his fingers through his hair. "I don't...I don't know what is going to happen. The energy between us is so powerful already..."

Jessie shrugged slightly, a small smile on her lips. "What a way to go, though, right?"

Glancing back at her nervously, he stated quickly as he put his hat back on, "I wouldn't know."

The smile only grew as she reached out for him, grabbing him by the waist of his pants and tugging him to her. She looked up at him, sliding her arms around his slender waist. "I had a feeling."

He looked down at her, some hair falling over his shoulder, hat once again obscuring his face the way it had when they first met. "And you don't mind?"

Shrugging once more, she brought her hands around to his front again, running them up his chest and sliding his jacket off his shoulders, letting it fall to his feet. "You tell me."

All sense of logic and caution left him the second he looked into her blue eyes, filled with want and a need that he knew only he could satisfy. Pulling off his hat, he followed by taking off his shirt and tossing it aside. He stepped closer to her, leaning down and placing his hand against her cheek, lips brushing lightly against hers as he used his hand to pull at her lightly, urging her to stand to her feet.

Once she stood, her old Team Rocket uniform falling to the floor, she broke their kiss quickly to slip out of her dress, letting it fall around her ankles in a soft, yellow heap. N's breathing sped up at the sight of her bare chest and torso, part of him wondering if the desperation he felt was normal or if, once again, it was exclusive only to them. His eyes still locked on her body, she sat back down on the bed and kicked her discarded dress away, laying back, hair fanned out around her like a magenta aura against the pillows.

Shoes and socks removed at some point that seemed to escape him, he crawled on top of her, body hovering over hers, his disheveled ponytail falling over his shoulder. Jessie reached up and tugged, releasing his hair from its binding, arching up against him as his hair fell over his shoulders, brushing against her chest in the most agonizing way imaginable. With a flick of his head, his light green mane was sent to one side before he leaned down and began planting soft kisses down in between her breasts, then her stomach. Hands running down his chest, she groaned and stopped them at what little abs his thin frame had to offer when he made his way back up her chest, stopping to suck at her hardened right nipple, her head tilting back against the pillows with another groan.

One hand cupping her other breast, his thumb rubbing the sensitive nub, he moved himself up to be face-to-face with her again, breathing raggedly. "I don't know what I'm doing," he admitted, squeezing her breast, the juxtaposition of his statement and actions completely lost or ignored by the both of them.

Her own breathing growing heavy, she moved her hands to his pants, undoing his belt with ease and tossing it on the bed next to her, eyes meeting his as she stated, "Could've fooled me."

He leaned in and aggressively pressed his lips to hers, his hands sliding down her sides slowly, letting him feel every jerk and twist, every writhing movement she made beneath him. Focused on his pants, she simply let him attack her lips with nips, sucking at them gently before parting them with his tongue and exploring her mouth, his need to know every part of her body growing by the minute.

N pulled back only to help her with his pants, wasting no time and wriggling out of both his khakis and underwear at once. He moaned in relief when his erection was no longer restricted, somehow managing to tug Jessie's panties down despite all the blood rushing away from his head.

Two sets of blue eyes meeting, the time that seemed non-existent stopped completely, the desperation calming to a realization of what was about to happen. Positioning himself just outside her, N swallowed hard, strands of hair falling in his face. Breathing harder, Jessie slid her arms around his neck, lifting one leg to wrap around his waist. Kissing her softly this time, he put his hand on her cheek and the other on her hip, lips brushing against hers, a shiver rattling down his spine when she sighed against them.

Nose-to-nose, his eyes searched hers for what he hoped was reflected in his, as well; he was met with an unequal balance of longing, fear, and an odd serenity. As if reading the other's mind, they both smiled at the same time, N running his thumb down her lower lip and murmuring, "You're so beautiful..."

Kissing his thumb lightly, she tilted her head to the side, fingertips caressing down his shoulder. "Still worried about what might happen?"

He thrust into her in response, both gasping at the feelings that surged through them like a bolt of lightning. She cried out his name as he moved his hand from her face to her other hip to help him keep his now shaky balance, his head swimming with nothing but her and how incredible it felt to be with her. Arching her hips, one hand raked through his hair while the other slid underneath his arm, her own wrapping around his shoulder.

Despite it all, their movements were distinctly slow, the sensation crackling between them one that they didn't want to lose very quickly. The air around them truly felt electrical - hot and thick, their bodies creating a spark in what little space was between them, like using two pieces of flint to create a fire.

Something odd prickled the back of his neck - something unrelated to the girl whose look of ecstasy was making him dizzy with desire. He was happy to ignore it, especially upon hearing the breathy, urgent moan of his name. Whatever it was could wait - he'd certainly waited long enough to experience the kind of happiness he was right then and there with the feisty girl with the fiery explosion of hair that was as wild and untamed as she was.

As they both reached their climax, whatever form of time that existed in their hideaway was not to be wasted, Jessie immediately getting on top of him with barely enough time for the energy that already consumed the room to dissipate.

Looking up at her, his hair now a shaggy mess splayed out on the pillows, he asked through panting and moans after thrusts, "Are we going to do this all day?"

Jessie looked down at him and grinned slightly, both hands on his chest as she tilted her head down, lips barely touching his. "You got plans?"

He shook his head, arms sliding around her waist. "I do now."

 

* * *

 

"How long has it been showing up?"

Colress crossed his arms, looking down at the device before him: a map of the region with a white grid placed over it was on the screen, a distinct yellow dot blinking at him from the center of one of the squares the grid formed. "Quite a while now, sir."

"We tried to get in touch with you the moment the energy spike showed itself again, but you were -"

"Nevermind what I was doing," Ghetsis retorted, prompting Aldith to step back and hunch her shoulders. "How is it possible that we had gotten no hits _whatsoever_ until a few weeks ago and _now_ it is constant, correct?"

"That is correct, Ghetsis, sir."

"By all means, Colress," he said, his voice cold, "please explain this phenomenon to me."

"Something is either making him very happy," Colress paused, glancing back to Aldith with a smirk, " _very_ happy," she rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, "or is upsetting him. There is no in-between - it's good or it's bad."

"And in your opinion, what do you believe it to be?"

Colress sighed, hitting some buttons on the device and suddenly furrowing his eyebrows. "Whatever it is, sir...he's with someone else that's giving off an energy reading as well."

Ghetsis leaned forward in his chair with interest. "Someone else?"

"It's probably Concordia or Anthea," Aldith suggested.

"One would never be without the other," Ghetsis said. "If it _is_ those two, we should have three hits, not two." Sitting back in his chair again, he added, "I find it extremely doubtful that it _is_ the sisters, anyway. They have exceptional strength and power, but nothing that could compare to N's."

"Then who is it?" Aldith asked, peering over Colress's shoulder.

He was punching away on the device, recalibrating this and that, not one button going unused. Finally, a few minutes later, he took off his glasses and took a long, hard blink before replacing them and looking at the screen again. "I honestly can't say -"

"What a big help you are," she snorted, eyes narrowing when he clasped a hand over her mouth.

"It's someone struggling with the same things as N; unsure where their loyalty lies: good or evil, right or wrong -"

"Dark or light," Ghetsis interrupted, his cold tone now below freezing.

Colress nodded, looking up at the large screen that displayed his boss in front of him. "As intriguing as this new development is, I feel as though we're focusing on the wrong thing."

Grabbing him by the wrist and yanking his hand away from her, Aldith asked, "What's the _right_ thing, then?"

"We now have confirmation of his whereabouts." Colress smirked, hitting a few buttons once again and sending the coordinates to Ghetsis. "Whatever you'd like to do with this information, sir, is up to you."

Taking a deep breath, the one eye that he showed the world penetrated the hearts of the mad scientist and high-ranking Plasma agent just as much (if not more so) as if he had two. "I already know. Aldith, return to the castle and help in the preparations." Getting a nod in understanding, Ghetsis now smirked as well, grip tightening on his cane. "N is going to get quite the 'welcome home' party."


End file.
